Apologies & Thank Yous
by Evie-Ruby-1994
Summary: Two-Shot. During Ben's coronation after party Mal has a few things she feels like she need to say to the last person anyone expected her to seek out. Mentions Ben/Mal and Belle/Adam.
1. Ben's Coronation After Party

**Author's Note: So I know something like this has probably been done before but it simply wouldn't leave my head. I hope you guys like it x**

Ben's coronation after party was in full swing now. Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos were using this time to relax after defeating Maleficent but no matter how much she tried Mal simply couldn't relax. She looked around at her sister and brothers to find they were all dancing and appeared to have either moved on from what happened or to have simply forgotten it. For Mal however things weren't that hard. She had this ache in her chest.

"Ben, I'm just going to get a drink." She whispered into his ear. He nodded to her and continued dancing as she turned and made her way off of the dancefloor. She hated feeling this ache in her chest and as she poured herself a glass of punch she decided she had to get rid of it. Even if that meant having a conversation with the last person she wanted to talk to and probably completely hated her for what had happened.

Mal's eyes scanned the crowd for the person she was looking for. Part of Mal was hoping she found her, while another part of Mal was hoping she had already left. After a couple of minutes of looking Mal was about to give up when she caught sight of the brunette's head. She was sat a little away from the party watching with a gentle smile on her face. The purplette also noticed she appeared to be alone and figured this was as good a time as any to talk to her.

With a sigh Mal pushed herself from the table she had been leant against and began slowly walking over to her boyfriends mother. _God I hope this talk goes well._ Mal thought to herself. _She has every reason to hate me for what has happened. Not to mention one word from her and I could lose Ben, the guy I'm pretty sure I love._ Mal was internally ranting and hadn't noticed how close she had gotten to the woman until she mentally told herself to suck it up and say what she needed to. Whatever happens after that happens.

As she brought herself from her own head she realised she was a few steps away from Queen Belle and the brunette had yet to notice her. In fact if Mal had to guess she would say the Queen was lost in her own thoughts much like she had been. Mal lowered herself to curtsy to the Queen. "Your Majesty." The purplette said, gaining the older woman's attention immediately. Belle couldn't help but feel shocked as she turned towards the voice that had addressed her to find the purple haired teen rising from her curtsy.

"Hello Mal." Belle greeted the teen, expecting her to sit next to her as any other teen would and have previously while talking to her. Mal however remained stood and began fiddling with the skirt of her dress. The purple haired girl was trying ton be discrete but Belle recognised the nervous gesture and decided to let the teen say what she needed to. The Queen didn't want to push the girl.

The nervous teen gulped before looking up at the brunette. Mal didn't meet her calm, caring gaze but was now looking at her face at least. "Could a speak to you for a minute?" Mal asked the older woman fully expecting to be told to go away and that the brunette didn't want to speak to her, mich like the teens mother often said to her when she wanted to talk to the evil fairy. The answer she received was the complete opposite.

Belle couldn't help but smile slightly at Mal. "Of course, Mal. What's on your mind?" She asked the teen. Although the shocked and wide eyed look she got in return broke her heart a little. No person should look that shocked that someone was okay speaking to them. "Why don't you sit down?" Belle suggested as she shuffled over a little leaving more then enough room next to her on the bench for the petite purplette.

Slowly Mal nodded and carefully, almost like she was scared Belle noticed, the teen sat and placed her hands on her lap, her gaze on her hands. The brunette turned so she was facing the teen sat next to her and gave the purple haired girl her full, undivided attention. After taking a deep breath Mal finally raised her head and looked in Belle's direction. "I just wanted to apologize." The half fairy admitted, shocking the Queen.

"Why are you apologizing?" Belle asked, not quite believing what she was hearing. What did this teen have to apologize for after she just faced down the more feared villain the Kingdom had ever known and won.

"Everything." Mal stated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world and to the teen it was. Belle decided to stay quite and allow Mal to explain when she was ready. After only a few moments Mal cast her gaze back down to her hands, not wanting to see the angry and rejection she was sure would overtake the Queen's brown eyes. "The reason Jane took the wand in the first place was because I convinced her that she wasn't pretty enough. My mother told me to get the wand and free her so she could take her revenge on you and the rest of Auradon. With Jane being Fairy Godmother's daughter I figured she was my best way to get to the wand." Mal started to ramble.

Those three sentences raised more questions then they answered in the brunette Queen's mind but she didn't have to wait long for a further explanation. "Just for once I wanted to make my mom proud of me and if getting the wand did that I was prepared to do it. But then I spent some time here and I began to second guess it. Then I started getting to know Ben and began falling for him." Mal paused there and took a breath. She hadn't planned to admit that to her boyfriends mother but her mouth kind of ran away with her. She couldn't take it back now but since the teen refused to lift her gaze from her hands she completely missed the smile that had spread across Belle's features.

"I realized at Ben's coronation I couldn't go through with it. No matter what kind of punishment I received off my mother. I couldn't risk Ben or anyone else getting hurt. But by then Jane had grabbed the wand and broke the barrier. When my mother appeared I felt awful. Then she began threatening everyone and getting mad and I didn't know what to do." The purple haired teen kept rambling. But Belle noticed a tear slip out of the teens eyes and drop onto her hands. "I never meant for what happened earlier to happen. I haven't wanted that for a while." Mal said finally lifting her head. The brunette Queen felt her heart break at the pain and sadness she found in Mal's green eyes. "I'm so sorry. I swear I didn't want that to happen." That was when Mal found she could no longer hold her tears back, they spilled from her eyes and down her face.

Belle wasn't sure what to do. As she looked at the purple haired teen in front of her she felt her heart ache for the girl. Sure she had planned to steal Fairy godmother's wand and destroy Auradon but throughout Mal's apology Belle realized something. Those plans were the desperate act of a little girl looking for her mother's approval. "Oh, Mal." The Queen breathed out, desperately trying to keep her own tears at bay. "You have nothing to apologise for." She told the teen before, without thinking, she moved forward and wrapped her arms around the young girl, pulling the girl into a warm, comforting mother's hug.

She felt Mal stiffen for a few moments before she melted into the embrace, wrapping her own slender arms around the Queen. "But if it makes you feel better then I accept your apology." Belle told the upset teen in her arms, kissing her head gently. Mal simply cried out her feelings. She had never been allowed to cry or show her feelings before so sixteen years of rejection and hurt were pouring out of her now. The teen also noticed that here, in Belle's embrace, she felt safe and cared for. Exactly like she felt when Ben held her.

Once Mal was all cried out she made to move out of Belle's hold and reluctantly the Queen allowed her to. "Feel better?" Belle asked, as the teen wiped her wet eyes. The brunette smiled at Mal as she attempted to school her features she she wasn't showing any emotions. The purple haired girl nodded to her before giving up trying to school her features and returned Belle's smile with her own shy one.

"Thank you." Mal said to the brunette Queen.

"What for?" The older woman responded, not entirely sure what she was being thanked for.

The purplette couldn't help but smile at this. "For raising someone as amazing as Ben." Mal stated. Once again Belle was shocked and had no idea why the teen would thank her for that. But her question was answered before she could even voice it. "As you probably guessed me and my friends didn't have the best upbringing." She said before taking a breath and carrying on. "Now though thanks to Ben large, kind and generous heart we have a chance to be happy here. Before coming here I didn't know what happiness, kindness and love felt like. But being here and being with Ben I'm starting to learn." She explained. Belle felt tears fill her eyes, partly because of the heartfelt thanks Mal was giving her but also from hearing just how bad Mal's childhood was.

Belle couldn't believe this kindhearted girl sat in front of her was the daughter of Maleficent. The Queen and half fairy shared a watery smile before Ben came over and asked Mal to dance with him again. The Queen watched as her son led his girlfriend onto the dancefloor and they began slow dancing to whatever some was currently playing. She wasn't paying much attention to the song in the background, her focus was purely on her son and Mal. Discretely she took a photo of them, their love for each other shining through their faces. Belle knew she had her own apologies to make but she figured one more day couldn't hurt. She didn't want to upset Mal again tonight. Tonight was for them to have fun and relax.

 **Author's Note: So I have one more chapter to add to this but that's it for this. It will only be a two shot. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Please review and let me know what you thought x**


	2. The Next Day

The morning after Ben's coronation found both Evie and Mal tucked up in their beds. The entire of Auradon Prep was quiet as the teens had all been partying until early hours of the morning to celebrate Ben. Every teen enrolled at Auradon Prep was happily sleeping the morning away. But the two VK girls were about to get a rather rude awakening. Late morning they began stiring from their sleep due to a persistant knocking at their dorm room door. Groaning the two teens shared a look and silently agreed to ignore the person on the other side of the door but they simply kept knocking.

"Urgh! What idiot keeps knocking like that!" Evie grumbled as she sat up in her bed. She looked at Mal and couldn't help but smile at the positively murderous look on her face at being woken up like this.

"Go away!" Mal shouted to the knocker. The teens thought the person had finally given up and left when they stopped knocking but they were soon proven wrong.

They heard the person clear their throat loudly before talking to them through the door. "I have a message for Lady Mal. It's from Queen Belle." He announced and the two teens looked at each other. Evie was shocked her sister had been refered to as 'Lady Mal' while Mal was running through everything that has happened around her.

Slowly and reluctantly Mal slid out from the warmth of her bed and crossed the room, opening the door as she reached it. She was met with the sight of a tall blonde haired boy, who couldn't be older then his late twenties. He smiled at the purple haired teen as he held out a white envelope to her, slowly she took the envelope returning his smile with a shy/worried one of her own. The teen watched as the tall blonde turned and walked back down the corridor before she turned and walked back into her room, shutting the door behind her.

The purple haired teen looked up and found her sister, Evie sat up, looking at her. A mixture of worry and excitement on the blunette's face. As Mal's eyes fell back on the envelope she was holding she immediately thought the worst. The half fairy had thought after the brief talk she'd had with the Queen last night she thought things would be alright, now she couldn't help but worry that she was getting sent back to the Isle. Slowly and with trembling fingers she opened the envelope and unfolded the paper it contained.

"What does it say?" Evie asked as she noticed her sister's eyes had stopped scanning the page. Instead of verbally responding she simply stepped closer to the blunette and handed her the note.

 _Dear Mal,_

 _I apologise if the arrival of this note wakes you. I would like you to join me for tea at the castle at 1pm, if you are free. I would love it if you could attend._

 _Love,_

 _Belle._

Evie lept out of her bed, surprising her sister, and headed straight into Mal's closet. It took Evie well over an hour to get Mal ready for meeting the Queen. By the time the blunette had finished primping the purple haired fairy for going to the castle it was almost one and Mal decided it would simply be best to transport herself there.

As the purple smoke cleared around her she smoothed out the dress she was wearing. It was a plain, simple purple summer dress. Nothing over the top but still kinda formal since she would be meeting the Queen. The half fairy smoothed out the invisible wrinkles in her dress and ran her fingers through her perfectly curled hair. After that she slowly walked up the steps and knocked of the large double doors. As the purplette waited for someone to answer the door she nervously twirled Ben's signet ring around her finger.

The girl didn't have to wait long before the door opened to reveal the same tall blonde that had delivered the note earlier. "Ah, Lady Mal, Welcome." He greeted me before stepping aside to allow me to enter. "I'm Chip by the way." He finally introduced himself. Mal couldn't help but smile at him. She knew from his name that he was Mrs Potts son. She may or may not have read Ben's parents story the other day.

"Hi Chip." She responded before following him as he turned and walked through the castle.

After only a few minutes he stopped outside another set of double doors. Opening the door Mal couldn't believe the room she had just walked into. She vaguely heard Chip close the door but didn't notice the figure curled up in the arm chair near the fire reading. She was too engrosed in the sight before her. It was the biggest library she had ever seen. The teen was pretty sure that even if she spent the rest of her life in here reading she still wouldn't be able to read all the books this room held.

Moving towards one of the book cases Mal was completely unaware of the figure now watching her. Carefully she ran her fingers over the spines on some of the books, marvelling at how old yet well kept they appeared. "It's wonderful." She whispered to herself.

"It is, isn't it." A voice responded and Mal jumped before turning in the direction the voice came from. As she turned the teen was met with the sight of a gently smiling Belle.

"Queen Belle." Mal gasped, since she hadn't realized the woman was in the room, before dropping into a curtsy.

The teen didn't look up or rise from her curtsy until she heard the Queen chuckling lightly. "When we are in this room or alone please call me Belle and there is no need to curtsy to me." Belle told the teen, who looked at her with surprise spread across her face. "Honey, I can see my son marrying you in the future. There's no need for you to be so formal with me." She said explaining her reasoning to the teen. Slowly Mal nodded and walked a little unsurely towards Belle as the older woman gestured for her to sit on the couch near the chair.

Once Mal was seated Belle moved to sit next to her. "Not that I'm not happy to see this amazing library, you... Belle, can I ask why you asked me to come?" The teen asked as politely and diplomatically as possible. She in no way wanted to offend the kind woman but she was also imagining the worst possible scenarios right now.

Belle nodded and smiled sadly at the Isle teen next to her. "Of course, Mal. I asked you here because I owe you an apology of my own." She told the purplette, shocking her.

Mal opened and closed her mouth a few times before she finally managed to get her words out. "But, you have nothing to apologize for Belle." She said. She couldn't believe this kind, benevolent Queen was apologizing for something she hadn't done, although part of her was happy that it seemed she wasn't getting sent back to the Isle.

"Oh but I do, Mal." Belle responded to the teen. A sad look crossed the older woman's face and Mal noticed tears gather in her eyes. "I'm part of the reason you, Evie, Jay and Carlos had to grow up on that aweful Isle with your parents." She stated, the more she spoke the more tears gathered in her eyes. Mal hated the sight of the ever caring Queen almost crying because of how her and her friends grew up. Sure she hated her childhood and how she was raised but it was also why she was the way she was. And without growing up on the Isle she may never have met Ben.

As the teen moved to speak Belle quickly cut her off. "When we created the Isle for the villains we were in the most simplest of mind sets. We believed that because the villains couldn't or wouldn't love anyone that there wouldn't be any children. When the first child was born on the Isle we were immediately notified. The other royals believed that nothing about the Isle should change and the child should be left with it's parent." The Queen began to explain. Mal couldn't help but be shocked that the so called heroes thought like that but she failed to see how any of this was Belle's fault.

"As more children were born on the Isle the issue was just ignored and despite my head and heart telling me to petition the council to at least improve the way you all lived on the Isle I kept quiet. I took Ben bringing you four over for me to realize just how badly I had failed as Queen and how badly I had failed all you children." Belle told the shocked teen, before finally allowing her tears to fall. Mal had no idea what to do. So instead of over thinking things she allowed her instincts to guide her actions and to her own and the older womans surprised she moved closer to Belle and wrapped her in a hug. The purple haired teen had no idea what to say so she decided to wait for Ben's mother to stop crying on her own before speaking.

After a while Belle had stopped crying and Mal moved away slightly but kept close, gently holding Belle's hand in her own. "You don't need to apologize for that. You had no idea what was happening on the Isle and no way of knowing either." The purple haired teen told her and Mal certainly didn't miss the upset and disbelieving look that Belle gave her. "But if it will make you feel better, I accept your unnecessary apology." The purplette stated, much to Belle's relief.

The older woman wrapped her arms around Mal whispering "Thank you." to her. But Belle did notice the tensed and upset posture of the teen. So the Queen decided to ease the tension in the room. "Can I tell you something?" Belle asked the teen. Mal nodded to the woman turning back to face her. "I'm very happy my son is dating you." She stated, once more shocking the teen.

"Really?" Mal asked, her voice showing her uncertainty.

"Of course." Belle informed the teen, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I've never been happier then when he told me he had dumped Audrey and was dating you." She said but carried on explaining at Mal's still disbelieving look. "I always thought Audrey was rather self absorbed, never really listening to Ben and my god was she a suck up."

Mal couldn't help but laugh at this, the sound causing the mother to laugh as well. "Oh she's a major kiss ass." Mal managed to state through her laughter. "And to make things worse she only talked about her self." Mal told the woman, causing her to nod.

"Then there's the nickname she gave Ben." Belle said, fake shivering. "Who calls their boyfriend Benny-boo?" She asked with a serious tone to her voice which only caused the two women to begin laughing once more. Belle couldn't be happier that Ben had chosen to date Mal. She was perfect for him and she didn't doubt that when the time came she would be a kind, caring and generous Queen to rule over Auradon.

* * *

 **Author's Note: So this will be it for this short story. If anyone has any one shot prompt they would like to send me please feel free. Writing this in between my other stories has helped me over come my writers block so you may find more little one, two or three shots from me in the future. Please review and let me know what you think x**


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